So that little dusting on my car turned into about 4-5 inches throughout the day. It became total mayhem around here since no one was prepared for SNOW IN OCTOBER!!

Mom ended up staying here because most of the roads were closed and she couldn't get home. And then there was poor Nick...

My poor poor baby! The bus driver called me at 2pm and said, just wanted to let you know that roads are a mess and we are definitely going to be late. Ok, no problem. Then she calls me 1/2 hour later (when kids are normally picked up) and says, I can't get out of Hackettstown. WHAT?? After multiple calls back and forth trying to find a way out, she finally finds a cop that tells her she's not going anywhere. She asks me if I can go get them. Uhm, first of all, that's not my job, second, I'll have to wait for John to get home because I'm not driving in this with my daughter in the car and third, the school is only going to let me take MY kid, they wont release the other 3 to me. I told her to call her boss. She did and he said he would go pick them up (which should have been decided on an hour before). He finally picked up the kids at 4pm. My poor baby didn't get home until 6:30 last night. I gave him a pass on homework and let him go play in the snow. Considering he had been gone for going on 12 hours, I figured he'd need the reprieve.

Calli thought it was great. She got to play in the snow. She got to play with Grandma, which included doing her hair, brushing, clipping, putting in green spray. And she got to have hot chocolate. It was a fun filled evening for her.

We lost power and cable multiple times, but all was well. We are no worse for the wear. I'll upload some picks when I can.

HA, Calli just heard the weather report and she yelled to me... MOM, two more days of sunny and then it's HALLOWEEN!!

Ok, I'm off to call for firewood. We're running dangerously low.

This is what I woke up to this morning!! WTF!! It's OCTOBER!! There's no SNOW in October!! I actually had to go out and shovel the porch so Nick didn't fall on his butt. It's too early for snow. I'm sad! The kids on the other hand were jumping up and down screaming! YAY SNOW!! SANTA'S COMING! HA LOL Remember when we were that age and loved the snow? That's before we had to shovel it and drive in it. Arg. Mom called this morning to tell me that she had 3 inches already and they were calling for a couple more. There were a ton of trees down and all the power was out. They are running on a generator. The ground isn't frozen yet so the weight of all the snow uprooted the trees. HA, that's what you get for moving out to the sticks!! Love you Mom.

So, funny story. It seems I need to get my perfect vision checked. Every morning I weigh myself (I know you're not supposed to!). Right before I get in the shower, when I'm all naked (no added weight please!) I jump on the scale to see what it says. Today I got on the scale as normal and looked and thought ok, 213, that's fine. And got off. Then went... UHM, WAIT A MINUTE!! Looked at the scale again, got back on... realized I've been reading the damn thing wrong. It didnt say 213... it said 205!!! I was miss reading the marks. (Need a digital one!) That's right friends. I am now down 52 POUNDS in 2 1/2 months!!! I haven't been this weight in eight years, since I had Nick. One more pound and I'll beat that record. And then I wont have been that weight in .... uhm.... in about 19 years... holy crap. I went into high school at 225.

Definetly keeps you motivated! WOO HOO Bring on the skinny jeans!

Off to do preschool with Calli. I'm making her do some book work so she doesn't fall behind.

Cassy will be here in 12 days! YAY

Here are a few pictures I've taken recently of my lake in the early morning just before sunrise and of our mountain. The leaves are just gorgeous. Enjoy!

And the last one is of my gorgeous kids! How great is that picture??!!!

We've got a great group for the party this year. It's gonna be a blast. Don't miss out!

I just started using Picasa... I know, I know, I'm slow on the uptake. But it was soooo cool. It found ALL the pictures on my computer. So I thought I'd show off my pictures. This is my yearly pick of the kids. I started with the first one (top left) when Calli was 1 1/2 and Nick was almost 5. The last (bottom right) is my newest addition. Calli will be 5 in February and Nick will be 8 next month. They grow so fast, but they better get used to these picks cause I'll be taking them until their 90 or I'm dead!

Clutzy Week

Wednesday, Calli and I went to the mall. We stopped at Sears so I could look at those exercise ball things. She was climbing on one of the bikes and I promptly told her to get down. I turn around and a few seconds later I turn back and said, Callihan, come here... to watch her immediately fall off one of the treadmills and bash her face into the side of it. Sears employees came SWARMING out of the wood works. "Is she ok? We'll get ice" (please don't sue!) HA. She scratched her nose and forehead and they were swollen, but besides that, she was fine.

We come home and get Nick ready for football. I made Calli stay home with me that night cause it was too cold. John and Nick walk out the door and walk back in about 30 seconds later with Nick crying. I'm like, what the hell did John yell at him for, they just walked out? Then John says, Go in the kitchen buddy. Hmm, ok. He comes to me and I see blood coming out his nose! OMG What the hell happened?? Turns out he missed the last step and went face first into the van. His nose was swelling. After some icing, we checked it out and figured it wasn't broken, but probably close to it. He said, I think I can still play football. Awwwww.

Yesterday, Lea watched Calli for me while I went to another BORING unemployment seminar thing they make you go to. When I got back to her house, no one was answering the door so I walked around back to see if the tv was on. As I was coming back to the front, my foot slipped off the brick path, into the ditch beside it and completely twisted. OMG, I was standing in her back yard SCREAMING as she was calling my cell to tell me they were at McDonald's. So I hobbled back to my car and drove home to sit on the couch with my Boo Boo Clifford and wait for them. It's the same ankle that I've torn the ligaments in twice and the one I broke at shoprite. It's just not having a good life. Today, I have a pretty bad limp and if I step wrong, I'm screaming. Needless to say, workout are on hold. I did end up getting the exercise ball though, so I'll do some crunches today.... maybe.

Let's see, I haven't heard from Jessy, Lisa, Margaret, Aunt Irene, Jackie, Wilson, Valerie and a few others. Come to the party, it'll be fun!! Hell, Nick's teacher is even coming!!

Off to ice my ankle. Later gators!

OMG OMG OMG!!!

I got tickets to the Rachel Ray Show!!! I'm soooooo excited! I had put in for them like 6 months ago. At the time Shelly said, yeah, I keep putting in for them but never get picked. Friday I got an email that said "Tickets available" YAYAYAY. Of course I called Shell right away. So it will be me, Shell, Tim and either John or Lea. The only bad side is that they are not a guarantee. They offer more tickets then seats, so it's first come first serve. We are going November 6th for the 10:15 shooting. Shell was here last night and we looked over the train schedule. If we catch the 7:30 train, we can be there by 9am, catch a cab (subway was way to confusing) and be there by 9:10. That gives us a little over an hour of leeway. Hopefully that's enough. I'M SOOOO EXCITED!! I love Rachel. Her man hands annoy me and her obsessive love of her dog is a little out of control, but hey, she'll feed me!!

Weight check.. I am now 214 down a total of 43 pounds. 7 pounds to 50 and 15 pounds until I break into the 100's!! So even though I HATE working out every day... I guess it's working. YUCK not to mention the fact that I haven't been keeping my food down lately. I need to start eating slower. I'm still eating very little, but I eat so fast that my tummy gets pissed and sends it back up. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

YAY, I have party goers!! Anyone else??? Jessy? Lisa? Valerie??

Off to do more laundry.

Hey People, Seriously need to know if anyone is coming to the party... Anyone Anyone?

We had a miracle on Saturday. Nick's team actually WON A GAME!!! We played against Jefferson (who had lost all their games as well). I was watching Nick and realized that when he was on defence he would get down, then get up and stand there with his hands up just waiting for the guys to come at him. I pulled him aside and said, don't wait Bud. As soon as that ball moves you plow right in between the guys in front of you and hit the dude with the ball. A few plays later (and me yelling from the side lines to remind him every play), that's exactly what he did and he PUMMELLED the quarterback. WOO HOOOO GO NICK!! He was so proud of himself. He ended up with two sacks this game.

I think the parents were more excited than the kids. We were all standing on the side lines just screaming!! LOL They did good and at least they can say they won one game.

I made John help me clean today. I'm sick of this disastrous house. I'm really trying to go through room by room and clear out. It took me about 2 hours to do the computer desk on Friday. Arg. I spent most of today in the bathroom. There was shit in the cabinets that expired in 2002. Yeah, I'd say that's not good anymore. LOL Stuff just gets pushed to the back and you forget about it. Now it's all nice and neat in there. ... ... ... for now. I figure if we focus on one or two rooms every Sunday, by the time the party rolls around, we'll be in good shape. (if anyone comes... damn, I need more friends - or at least less busy ones)

Update on the van. Most of you know that in MAY!! my driver's side door jammed shut and has been stuck that way ever since. We've had multiple people try to get it open and it's a no go. Friday we went over to Donna's and her son took a turn. We ended up ripping off the inside panel to get at the part and it still wont budge. It's just not worth it anymore. I told John we should see what we could get for it as a trade in and buy a used car. (Unless anyone has a car they don't want anymore that runs and all the doors open??) LOL It has to be inspected in a couple of months and it's going to fail. Might as well get something else now, or at least start looking.

OH, I forgot. I went for my interview and from what it sounds I'm exactly what they are looking for and have all the qualifications. They said they would let me know in a few weeks. If I get this job it will be a cake walk! It's basically what I did as an Admin for Cendant for a department of 60 people and 500 entities except this company is 3 people and 5 entities!! Rock on! Plus they are really easy on hours and such. They're like, "We don't take a head count here. You come in when you come in and your leave when you leave. As long as your work is done, we don't care." NO MORE FACE TIME!!!! Gotta love it. I was soooo not interested in going on this interview, now I'm glad I did. We'll see what happens.

Going to veg out before dinner. Don't forget to let me know that you are coming. Stroke my ego folks, it's freaking depressing.

Mark Your Calendars!!

The Annual Toy and Lingerie party will be held on November 15th at 8 pm. Feel free to come early and get your drink on. We all know it's way more fun when you're not so inhibited!! I figure everyone should come around 7pm, eat drink and find a seat. Please either email me at flutterbyheaven@gmail or add a comment to the blog to let me know if you can make it. I need to know how much food and drinks to buy.

I've now been working out for an hour a day 5 days a week. This morning I added 45 minutes of Yoga (which is really freaking hard by the way). I started doing it and when Calli woke up, she joined me. I was really jealous of how flexible she is. All the poses were like nothing to her. I struggled with every breath. Damn kids! Needless to say, after all this working out, everything prettu much hurts. My shoulder, my back, my arms, my legs, hell, sometimes my hair hurts!! But I keep telling myself it's all worth it.

I went to Lane Bryant yesterday to get an outfit for my interview tomorrow (since my suit doesn't fit anymore) and almost everything I tried on was in a 14. I was shocked. I love that store but one more size and I wont be able to shop there anymore. So Sad! :o(

Nick's school is doing Book It! which is a program they run with Pizza Hut. The kids have to read for 15 min a night and at the end of the month they get a personal pan pizza for free. HA, the kid is so excited about that. It cracks me up. But hey, if it gets him to reading I'm all for it. He's sitting her next to me reading now. Oops, should I be listening???

I'm so excited about the party. This is the only party I ever have (adult wise), so I enjoy it. I hope lots of you can come. I'm giving you a months notice people!! The first one of these I had, the place was packed!! It's dwindled down to only a few now. It's more fun when it's lots of people (not that my regulars aren't fun!!) but you know what I mean. And don't forget, it's co-ed so all the guys can come too!! I don't care if you're prude or not, close your eyes when the toys come out and just look at the jammies, eat the food and hang out.

Oh, Nick's birthday is the following Saturday, November 22. We'll be having a party here for him with a very special "Cake by Michelle" WOO HOO So mark that day on your calendar too. I can't believe my baby is going to be EIGHT! I feel so old. Jeeze, I remember when he was 2 and thinking that 10 seemed so far away. Now it's right around the corner! WWAAAAHHhhhhh

Ok, dinner is begging to be made. TTFN - don't forget to let me know if you can come. Let me know if you can't come too so I can talk you into it!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my Canadian friends that is! Hee Hee

So, I'm supposed to do some call today in about 20 minutes for a job at Cadbury (yup, the candy people). The only problem is it's in the tax department. Arg. I don't really want to do that again. Tax is a pain in the ass. Everyone is stressed ALL THE TIME and they work insane hours. I don't want to say straight off, No, I wont work overtime, but she has to be aware that during busy season (which for tax is like, 9 months out of the year) I can't stay till 8pm. We'll see what happens. Hey, if they offer me a crap load of money, I can't really say no I guess. Not that I want to go back to work at all.

It's crazy being home. There's ALWAYS something to do. Whether it be cleaning, cooking, laundry, baths, shopping, bills, kids, it's just never ending. I don't know how I ever got anything done working full time. I don't want to give this up, but I know unemployment will only last so long. Bah Humbug. Why can't unemployment just pay me forever? Or why can't they offer to double John's salary? I shouldn't bitch though, considering they layed off a couple people at his work last week. I should just be happy he has a job.

We were standing around football practice the other night with a bunch of other parents and John was the only one in the group with a job.. (SHOCKER, I KNOW!!!) They were all talking about how their companies were just laying people off left and right. It's a scary time. I'm just picturing us turning into the poor from the great depression and everyone standing on line for a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese that needs to last us for a week. HA Talk about a diet! I'm sure it will turn around sooner or later.

Ok, this lady is gonna call soon. Gotta go bond and gag the kids.

Nick's team lost again yesterday... no big surprise. But Nick played a lot more than usual. I guess giving the coach a what for and then plopping our chairs right behind the bench so the coaches had to look at us really does something. Hee Hee Hee. They did really well and they always try their best. That's what counts, even if they suck! lol

My cousin Valerie stopped by today to bring me some clothes. I pulled out a pair of size 14 jeans and told her they would have to be put away for a while. She said no no, try them on. Now keep in mind that they were stretch jeans, but.... They fit! Well, no, they didn't extactly fit. They were really really tight, BUT, I got them BUTTONED!! I haven't been in a 14 since... uhm.. well, I don't actually ever remember being in a 14, but I had to have been at some point right? Probably 6th grade? I can't wait till they really fit and I don't get that sausage roll over the top of them. And then I can't wait till they're too big! Sooner or later I guess.

John cleaned out the garage today and moved all my boxes of crap from the back to the front so that I now have no excuse for not going through them and getting rid of everything. I have to do a lot this week because the mondo garage sale is this weekend. For those of you that live in Jersey, BARKS Garage sale is this weekend at Wild West City. This thing is awesome. It's huge and you walk around, grab a ton of stuff and they look at it and say, Uhm, $5 for everything. Sunday afternoon they have $1 bag sales. You pay a $1 for the bag and fill it with as much as you can. I've gotten some really good stuff there including Bovarian china that completed my grandmother's set. Check it out if you're in the area. If you're not, it's worth the trip!

That's it for now, gotta tuck the kids in.

I am putting in a Mary Kay order. If anyone needs anything, please let me know by Monday! Check out the site. They have a TON of new stuff. All new colors and compacts, and don't forget about all the skin care, holiday gifts, etc. And you know you all get discounts! www.marykay.com
Because I haven't been doing it a lot, my web site lapsed. So just go onto the main site and then email me with what you want. Don't order on the site! flutterbyheaven@gmail.com

Monday night will be the deadline.

Congratulations to Beth and Mike!! A new house is so much fun and it's good to know that someone is buying and selling in this market! Dang, you should've bought the house down the street from us. It's GORGEOUS, huge and going cheap! But I'm still happy for you. You're really close to me now. Poor Mike, he's gonna have to see me more. hee heee heeeee.

Party Time!!! I talked to my chicky who does the shows. We still have to nail down a date. The 14th is no good for some, so it will either be the 7th, 8th or the 15th. I'm trying to shoot for the 15th. Mark your calendars folks. Pencil it in all the dates! I'm hoping for a bigger group this year. Come one come all! Lots of new stuff to see. And I'm much skinnier now, so I can try on some of the clothes without looking like a sausage! Woo Hoo

I was a gymnastics yesterday and saw my reflection in the glass... it was very bizarre. You know how you picture yourself in your mind is never what you really look like. I'm used to having a thin picture in my mind and then seeing a reflection of the michelan man. Yesterday, what I saw was much smaller. I must have looked like an idiot standing infront of the window turning this way and that. HA LOL

I kept Nicky home from school today. Poor kid could not get to sleep last night. We tried everything. Normally he's a good sleeper and is out within 5 minutes of his head hitting the pillow. Last night he was up till after Midnight!! And do you know he was still up before the bus came. (I left a message for her but I guess she didn't get it) I'm glad I kept him home though cause he's really congested. He's coming down with something. Might as well head it off at the pass. That's probably why he couldn't sleep.

Off to do laundry.... YAY! :o( It's never ending!!

Steak is not my friend. It's soooo yummy, but I guess I don't chew it well enough or eat too much, but damn. It wasn't even a stomach ache. It was just pure pain, like it was stuck (which it probably was). The puking lasted a while and I felt like I pulled all the muscles in my chest. Then I get up this morning and I can barely move my legs from yesterdays workout. I don't think working out today would be a good idea. I think it might cause more damage than good. I'm sure Lea will talk me into it, but I'd have to do all upper body, and that all hurts too. I don't want to do something major. Knowing my luck, I'd tear a muscle or something and then not be able to do anything for weeks. I think I'll lay low today and stick to laundry. Cross your fingers that Lea agrees.

TV TALK

I have become addicted to the Duggar family. You know them, the ones with the 17 children and one on the way. They live in a HUGE beautiful house in AR that they built BY HAND themselves. Anyway, they have a new weekly show on. Last night, their oldest son Joshua, now 20, called some chicks parents and asked to "formaly court his daughter". Ok, now in our world, that's cute and that would mean dating... not in the Dugger world. In the Dugger world, it means he PROPOSES to the girl and they get to know each other during their engagement. Not only is that bizarre, but they are only allowed to hold hands. There is no intimate contact allowed at all, including kissing, until the wedding day. Hmm okkkkkk. They have to have a chaperone with them at all times. Now, if this was me, I'd run away from home. Not only are they ok with all of this, but ALL 17 of the Dugger kids are on the same page. "Oh no, it makes it so much more special if you save the first kiss till the wedding day" WHAT??? What if they are really sucky kissers and you're now stuck with a wet slobbery kisser for the rest of your life? Hey, to each his own. The Dugger's have a happier home life than ANYONE I know so they must be doing something right.

So, I go to bed last night and I'm flipping through the chanels and realize that the world is coming to an end. I mean, what is happening when they have televised the "National Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship". ???? That's right folks, it seems that our old game of throwing out hands to see who wins something is a.... dare I say.... Sport??? Tell me it ain't so!!! Of course, I got sucked in and had to see who one the ... get this... $50,000 grand prize. SHIT, If I knew I could win $50,000 for THAT, I would have been in a long time ago. What the Hell??? I just don't get it. I mean, seriously. What's more unbelievable is that they put it on TV. That's just wrong. I'm sure there are much better things people can be doing with their time. And yes, I know that I watched it, but that was only for a journalistic point of view so that I could report this nonsence to you.

I've only lost one pound this week. I'm not really happy with that, but I had to figure that I worked out 5 days straight and I'm sure I built a little bit of muscle. And considering that my body has never had an ounce of muscle on it, it probably weighs a lot. So, I'm down to 217 that's a 40 pound loss. 18 more pounds and we have a party!!!

Speaking of parties, it's October, which means we need to plan the November "toy party" (this is adult toys, not kid toys). I'm thinking November 15th. Let me know if that's ok for everyone. This is a boy girl party (cause it's more fun that way)

Ok, off to do my workout ..... again.... wwwaaaaaaahhhhHH!!!!

Before I go, I had to share this. (Thank you Margaret) There is a New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know!
There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President. I think this is an incredible idea! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=357563&altf=Lbzmfof&altl=Qfbsdf

OMG, I soooo did not want to get out of bed this morning. My alarm went off, and off and off... lol, but I got up to get Nick off to school. This past week he has been sleeping in. I'm gonna have to go buy him a cheap alarm clock cause he's a bear to wake up in the morning. It's so much easier if he's up playing the Wii when I get up cause then I can just get him moving. Otherwise I'm dragging him out of bed.

After getting him out the door I debated about whether to stay up or go back to sleep.... sleep won out. Calli crawled in with me at about 8 and I turned on Disney for her. She let me sleep till almost 10. Of course then I felt even more tired. The thought of going to work out was horrible. I thought about calling Lea and telling her I wasn't coming. BUT, I toughed it out and went anyway.

APPLAUSE TO ME!! Come on people, I want to hear some major ooo's and aahhh's. I did an ENTIRE WEEK of work outs. You should all be very proud of me.

My major thing to talk about today is that I got the new Jenny McCarthy book "Mother Warriors". It talks about her battle with her son's autism and has a bunch of other stories from parents. She is a huge believer in the vaccines causing autism. As I read through the book I was shocked at all the similarities. Not just in the autism characteristics, but in WHEN they became evident. Also that these kids (not all of them, but a good amount) can recover with the proper diet and vitamin supplements. WITHOUT MEDICATION.

One of the biggest eye openers was that a B 12 deficiency can cause a lot of the outburst behavior in autistic kids. I have a B12 deficiency and so does my niece, so much so that she has to have the shots for it. There are a bazillion tests you can do to find out what they are deficient on and what toxins and metals they are high on. And all of these things can be fixed.

They have these doctors called DAN! doctors (Defeat Autism Now) that only treat biomedically (no drugs). There is one in Hackettstown and I'm going to try to get in to see her. The biggest problem... insurance doesn't cover autism. How STUPID is that. They cover Nick's doctor's appointments and meds but that is because he also has ADHD and OCD. They wont cover speech therapy, occupational therapy, or group therapy. Thankfully his school offers all of this for free as part of their program. They most likely won't cover a DAN! doctor. But it's worth a shot.

Jenny is going to be on Ellen today, which starts now, so I'm gonna go watch it. I have more to tell you about the mercury in the vaccines and getting them while your kid was sick. Tomorrow.